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Monday, September 2, 2013

What's With Russia?

Of late Russia and its leader Vladimir
Putin have been in the news. Putin
recently signed into a law a new decree banning “homosexual propaganda”,
effectively outlawing Gay Pride parades and other forms of public endorsement
of homosexual lifestyle. Also banned is
the adoption of children by gay parents.
Homosexuality itself, which was decriminalized in Russia only since the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, remains decriminalized. Nonetheless, to say the least, people in the
west are concerned over what appears to them to be unwarranted repression of
homosexuals in Russia and unconscionable suppression of free speech. What are we Orthodox in North America to
think of all this? Are there any lessons
that we can draw from what is happening so far away in a country with a very
different history and outlook than our own?

Inevitably,
most of the people weighing in on the debate from America approach the events
from the perspective of rights—the right of free speech, the right of gay
couples to adopt children if they should choose, etc. American framing much of this debate in terms
of rights is inevitable, I suggest, because that is the lens through which
America sees the world. It is part of
the bold and grand experiment that is American democracy, and it is a new way
of looking at things. (Note: not a bad way necessarily, just a new
way.) American democracy is the New
World step-child of the Enlightenment and French democracy, which itself was born
in the blood of the French Revolution, and exulting in “liberty, equality,
fraternity”, even if these noble goals were pursued for a while through the guillotine. America is arguably greater and certainly more
globally influential than France, and so when one thinks of democracy it is
usual for people to think of America as the land of the free, not France. Somewhat ironically, thanks to American power
in the world, the lingua franca is
now American English. But the global
influence of America should not blind us to the historical fact that
American-style democracy is still comparatively new in world history, and for
many people outside the U.S. the jury is still out on the question of whether
or not the American preoccupation with rights is as workable as many people in
America think it is. At least that seems
to be the perspective of some in Russia, including Putin.

But
if protecting individual rights (including the right to “life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness”) is not the main task of a government, what is? Older governments, including the government
of what is now called Byzantium, would have replied, “justice”, including as
one of its main components, the promotion of virtue. That is, rulers were concerned to discover
what was just and virtuous behaviour and then to outlaw unjust and unvirtuous
behaviour. Obviously since rulers were
fallen, they often made a mess of it, like all men make a mess of
everything. But attaining virtue
remained the goal. The question for them
was not, “What are my rights as a citizen?”, but rather, “How should I live as
a citizen?” The focus was on the
promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice.

I
am not saying of course that there is no overlap between the two approaches to
law, or no commonality between the ancient way of looking at society and our
modern one. And I am as happy as anyone
else living in the west to have the freedom to speak (or blog, like I am now)
and not fear the policeman’s knock on my door.
But I am aware that our modern American way is not universal or of any
great antiquity.

I
am not Russian, have never been to Russia, and know all too few Russians. (The ones I do know are wonderful, and I wish
I knew more of them.) But my guess is
that Russia looks westward across the wide sea into the New World and sees not
so much a shimmering example of freedom as it does a rising tide of
immorality. In the New World (let’s
include my own Canada here too), homosexuality is rapidly becoming normalized
everywhere and is the new status quo.
This is an astonishing and rapid revolution, especially when one
considers that just a few years ago (at least in Canada) it was still a
criminal offense to be a homosexual, and that Gay Pride parades were
unthinkable, much less gay marriage, or gay and lesbian clergy. Within a few decades things have changed
dramatically and are continuing to change.
I predict that by the time my toddler grandchildren are able to vote gay
marriage will be universal and normal throughout North America, and that
speaking publically against homosexuality will have become a crime. It is this rising tide and this cultural
revolution that Russia sees, and which it wishes to avoid. Whether passing such laws is the best way to
go about avoiding it is another question.
But I suspect that since Russia has been heir to Byzantium longer than
they have been heir to western democracy, they see our North American situation
more in terms of clear and present danger than they do in terms of clearly
threatened rights.

So,
what is the best way forward for us here in North America? I do not think that taking the Russian
approach of banning these things by law makes any sense here. We are too preoccupied by “rights”, and
anyway the homosexual genie is now out of the cultural bottle so that turning
back the clock is not an option even if it were the right thing to do. I suggest therefore that whatever we do in
North America about our laws, we also recognize that the gay cultural
revolution has in fact taken place, and that we tell our children,
grandchildren, and catechumens that Orthodox Christians must now live
counter-culturally. It is not as if this
commitment to counter-cultural living is a new thing. It was the norm when we lived as a minority
in the pagan Roman Empire. We survived
just fine then; we can survive just fine now, but we need to face up to the
present reality. Christendom has sunk
like Atlantis. We who wish to be saved
are in the Ark.

Fr. Lawrence on Ancient Faith:

BUY the book

Fr. L. at oca.org

Followers

Father Lawrence Farley holds an M.Div.from Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology, and also completed a Certificate program at St. Tikhon's Seminary.

Since 1987 he has served as the pastor of St. Herman's Orthodox Church, OCA (Archdiocese of Canada) in Langley BC. Several priests, deacons, and lay members of new missions have emerged from the membership of St. Herman's.